Apple's presence on the Web continues to expand, with browser use of both iOS and Mac OS X seeing growth in October that propelled the company to new heights.

The latest operating system share statistics from Net Applications show that in October, Apple's iOS platform continued to grow to a 61.64 perent share of the mobile device in October of 2011. That was up 7 percent from the 54.65 percent iOS represented among mobile devices in September.

Apple's share has continued to grow for the last year, and is up more than 10 percent from the 49.19 percent iOS held in December of 2010. Google's Android platform has also grown in that time, but represented just 18.9 percent of mobile devices browsing the Web in October.

The gains made by iOS and Android came at the expense of the Java Platform, Micro Edition, which is designed for embedded systems on mobile devices, such as so-called "feature phones." Java ME took 12.84 percent of mobile browsing in October, followed by Symbian at 3.48 percent, and BlackBerry at 2.48 percent.

Breaking down Apple's mobile devices, the data shows the iPhone as the dominant platform with 30.05 percent total global share. But perhaps more surprising is how close the iPhone is to the iPad, as Apple's touchscreen tablet accounted for 28.6 percent of mobile devices browsing the Web.

As for the operating system share of traditional PCs browsing the Web, Net Applications found that Apple's Mac platform also continued to grow in October. The Mac represented 6.94 percent of devices tracked online, up from 6.45 percent in September and considerably up from the 5.21 percent Apple represented in December of 2010.

The disparity is because each of these studies collects data from a different set of sites. Without a deal more transparency as to which sites are monitored, neither of these studies is very useful. Were only english-speaking sites considered? Was apple.com or google.com monitored? How many sites and how did they choose them?

Anyways, it should also be noted that Apple is listed as a major client of NetApplications, while Google is not. Do you trust someone taking a lot of money from Apple who tells you "Apple is Number One!"?

If so, I'd like to sell you a slightly used, fantastic car for a great price!

I thought Android was winning?! Just goes to show you that a lot of Android buyers don't know they are getting Android and was probably just getting a phone because it was free.

It's curious that iOS is so much higher than Android when 1) Android is better in every way for "real users" and 2) Android gets a trillion activations for every iPhone sale. Makes you wonder if maybe, just maybe, not including other iOS-based devices when comparing mobile OSes and only looking at iPhone sales after the quarter ends compared to counting multiple activations on a single Android-based device might not be the most honest measurement.

Ether way it's good to see Apple's investment in WebKit having made the Internet browser better for all users.

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

Because Google says it activates 550K android devices a day(?) which is apparently more than iOS devices and have a larger market share, allegedly. So if they have a higher market share in devices, they should have a higher market share in mobile browser share instead of 19%. Unless, of course, androiders don't use the browser, which is odd.

Shows iOS VS Android and iOS is leading. But this is iOS only with iPhone and iPod Touch included; the iPad is not part of the "Mobile OS" data and does not show up on the desktop data either. Stat-counter mostly ignores the iPad because (I suspect) it would put Android in really bad light.

Add in the iPad data to the mobile OS data and I think Statcounter's data and Netapp Market Share data would fall closer into line.

Because Google says it activates 550K android devices a day(?) which is apparently more than iOS devices and have a larger market share, allegedly. So if they have a higher market share in devices, they should have a higher market share in mobile browser share instead of 19%. Unless, of course, androiders don't use the browser, which is odd.

You need to look at the installed base, and not the market share. That may be the source of the confusion.

Anyways, what I was wondering was how you conclude that "a lot of Android buyers don't know they are getting Android".

Because Google says it activates 550K android devices a day(?) which is apparently more than iOS devices and have a larger market share, allegedly. So if they have a higher market share in devices, they should have a higher market share in mobile browser share instead of 19%. Unless, of course, androiders don't use the browser, which is odd.

It's southeast Asia.

It's a huge marketplace for entry-level Android handsets that aren't really being used as smartphones. The devices are basically being used as touchscreen feature phones. The users don't do much beyond call, text, the occasional e-mail or Facebook view, etc. These users aren't downloading lots of apps or surfing the web much.

Other factors: Apple sells about two iPod touches for every three iPhones. That's a substantial user base that has no equivalent in Android OS devices.

Also, the iPad dominates the media tablet market, probably around >95%. What few non-iPad tablets are sold are mostly collecting dust on a shelf or are sitting in an RMA pile at Best Buy. The iPad is dominating customer satisfaction surveys which implies that owners of non-iPad tablets probably aren't using their devices much.

The disparity is because each of these studies collects data from a different set of sites. Without a deal more transparency as to which sites are monitored, neither of these studies is very useful. Were only english-speaking sites considered? Was apple.com or google.com monitored? How many sites and how did they choose them?

Anyways, it should also be noted that Apple is listed as a major client of NetApplications, while Google is not. Do you trust someone taking a lot of money from Apple who tells you "Apple is Number One!"?

If so, I'd like to sell you a slightly used, fantastic car for a great price!

Interesting in the bar chart at the link you showed:

-- Opera is 1st
-- iPhone and Android are about even (iPhone slightly ahead)
-- iPod Touch is shown separately
-- iPad is not shown at all
-- Other is almost as much as iPod Touch

Apparently, Android is for all Android devices -- including all size tablets, forked OS implementations, etc.

Shouldn't the caparison be all iOS mobile devices to all Android moble devices?

Therefore shouldn't iOS include iPhone, iPod Touch and some portion of other?

If true, wouldn't iOS, in fact, be 1st?

is the Opera figure really meaningful here as it is available on most platforms (including: Android, iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch)?

1) What explains for the dramatic disparity in purchases (market share) and usage (browser share)?

Different methods and sources (even time periods) should not result in so dramatic a disparity!

The first one is NOT iOS VS Android. It is iPhone VS Android. Likewise, Canalys tends to use "shipped" numbers for Android and "sold" for iPhone. This weights the data somewhat. Add to this, higher device utilization on iOS devices when compared to Android, and this completes the picture.

1) What explains for the dramatic disparity in purchases (market share) and usage (browser share)?

Different methods and sources (even time periods) should not result in so dramatic a disparity!

It may be explained, at least in part, by looking at the installed base. It is likely that a much larger proportion of iDevices remain in service for longer periods of time, compared to Android devices.

I think that a lot of people still use older iPhones, and a lot of people chew up bandwidth and data using them.

Could be that Android has a lot of recent smartphone converts who don't use data as much as their iOS brethren.

And that their stats are intentionally skewed for subversive, profit-motivated reasons?

Wow. That's pretty extreme.

It is really a question of where the iPad fits. Statcounter does not include it in "mobile" data period. On the desktop it only shows up in the US data as allowing iOS to take 5th place (displacing Linux) under OS share. Everyplace else, they show the iPad as part of "other".

All other web tracking sites have been including the iPad as either a separately tracked item or under mobile for the past 9+ months.

I guess the statisticians can slice and dice anyway they want to portray the desired result!

You can change pretty much anything you would like to on the graph which was linked to. Click on the key to add or subtract data. Use the pull-down menus to get different categories. I can't vouch for any accuracy, but the web tool is very nicely done.

I assume the iOS non-browser activity is greater than Android because there are, reportably, a greater number apps available and installed on iOS devices. This is a common argument from proponents of Android,

Also it is in Android's (Google's) interest to channel activity through the brewer for data mining and ads -- while iOS's (Apple's) motivation is just the opposite.

1. The report on which the new story is premised is Internet browser usage for certain, specific website (~60,000 websites, though) while the Canalys report is smart phone market estimates (presumably based on Google's reported activations since Google doesn't provide sales data). The website referenced also contrasts Android (which theoretically could be any type of device using Android) versus the Apple iPhone (and only the iPhone, not iPod Touch or iPad). http://searchenginewatch.com/article...s-Second-Place

2. I am not sure I follow your question. I read the data differently. Apple iPhones clearly use far more data based on the report which is the premise of this news story. It occurs to me that proponents of Android would argue that they use Apps far more and thus their data usage isn't clearly delineated.

The given news story is based on a report about mobile/tablet OS market share. I fully expect Apple to win this as there isn't a market for tablets outside of iPad (and now probably Kindle which is not really a tablet). Based on my family's usage patterns I suspect tablets, on average, use far more data.

The most important notes from these types of reports are:

1. Apple dominates mobile profit share at ~66% of all profits for mobile devices and the primary source of their profits is hardware versus Google who profits from advertising on any and every device that uses Google products and services.

2. Apple has to-date paid out more money to developers than Google has made gross profit (even discounting the ~ USD $15 B paid for Motorola Mobile Inc. Thus, one can conclude that the Apple developer community is quite strong and likely to remain strong as Apple continues to grow their business. Google also has a strong developer community; I am only commenting on the strength of Apple's developer community.

3. Apple commands a significant market share of mobile Internet traffic (regardless of whether the actual figure is ~33% or ~66% doesn't really matter, the share is significant). As Apple offers more products and services as alternatives to Google products and services (iCloud, Maps, Siri) this is a very significant threat to Google. Google has even admitted that the lion's share (~66%) of their mobile profits is derived from services provided to Apple iPhones.

4. Apple continues to thoughtfully grow their business by opening new markets, new carriers and new price points to their products and services. At an already significant ~25% of smart phone hardware sales, opening their devices to new users will almost certainly sustain or even continue to grow their business.

5. Apple products and services in proven markets consistently provide the highest levels of customer satisfaction. In fact, in some markets the difference between Apple and the nearest competitor in terms of customer satisfaction is so absurd as to almost be unbelievable. With such customer satisfaction, we can conclude most customers will continue to use Apple products and services and may even succumb to the horrible "halo effect" (heaven forbid!).

You need to look at the installed base, and not the market share. That may be the source of the confusion.

Anyways, what I was wondering was how you conclude that "a lot of Android buyers don't know they are getting Android".

There are many "free" android phone options that customers will get because the sales guy pushes them. They don't care what the OS is. How may people knew they were using Symbian before? Techies, otoh, know what they want when they go into a store.